Film Courage: From our previous interview Shane we had one video
that had a lot of comments that we are hoping to run by you and maybe get some clarification
on. The Big Reason Why Many People Will Never Have a Career in the Film Industry
and so here's one comment “Sounds great in theory, but we literally can't afford
to spend our time not getting paid these days honestly lol.” I can read another if you'd like?
Shane: Okay.
Film Courage: Okay. “You can hustle, be the quote johnny-on-the-spot and still fall through the
cracks. Starting out I worked on a ton of projects for free as much as I could living at home
and later when I saved up and moved to LA, but eventually those resources run out and you have
to pay rent. There's a definite class element to being able to go out and spend two years working
for free. Nobody should work for free.” Here's another “One quick question if you work on a
movie 12-plus hours a day for a month and you do that for a year or so for free…how exactly
do you pay rent question?” Okay here's another one “I’ve been working my tail on? I’m going…
Shane: Probably tail off he doesn't think he's working the tail off they're working
their tail yeah wax on wax off sorry okay um I’ve been working my tail off on crappy jobs
outside the movie industry and I cannot accept unpaid jobs inside the industry because I have
to eat and live and that costs money I am a little confused about this attitude of Stanley
thanks that you are supporting such a bad role model I'm a bad role model okay god I feel bad
that so much of this was misconstrued and I don't blame the the the viewers and and I'd first like
to apologize if anything was misunderstood I'm not telling you to sell your soul work for free live
on the streets and not pay rent um let me clarify a few things with that um because I encourage you
to get out there and work and hustle and do what you have to do to get on a set a lot of the sets
that you're going to get on cannot afford you anyway and they or they are already filled and
what my point was it doesn't mean you go work 75 hours a week for free six days a week on a
film it means you make yourself available to a producer or a filmmaker and say look I have a job
I need to get time on a set can I put in two days a week I’m off Saturday and Tuesdays I'm off the
weekend I'm off at night and get yourself involved and in the loop of people that are doing what you
ultimately want to do I'm not saying that you've got to go you know live in your car to go work for
free I personally worked for free a lot but I also had other jobs just because I had a father in the
industry trust me it didn't help me in a way that a lot of people think it might have when I when
I decided that I wanted to make a living in film the only thing my father gave me was his rolodex
he said great there you go you know some of the people in there make some calls I worked for
hundreds of different people before he hired me full-time I wasn't until my mid-20s until I
was working with my dad full-time we had a lot of success early on with his documentaries and shows
that he did we did one every two years I moved out when I was 18 I didn't have my rent covered
I was out hustling I held odd jobs I sold cars I worked at restaurants I waited tables I bus tables
you know I detailed cars I mowed lawns I painted houses I did construction
I still found a way to get on a set every week and put in my time to make new contacts so what
I'm trying to encourage you guys to understand is it's not going to come to you you have to make
sacrifices I am not asking you to yourself out and work for free for everybody all the time to start
to get a track record as a reliable resource on a set it's like interning you know we have a lot of
interns that come and go on our shows from films from film school that work on our productions we
we get them when we can they get credit some of our greatest regular crew members that we
pay are from interns from college that came in and worked for two or three days
a week if we were lucky during a production from four years ago it's just to encourage everybody
to understand it's not coming to you if it's not coming to you how are you going to get something
you know if you want to get to an island it ain't coming to you you either swim or take a boat if
you don't have money for a boat you don't have the resources for a boat get in water start swimming
that's all I'm trying to say it's to encourage you guys to understand that's what I had to do
I brought up a friend of mine whose father had two oscars his mother had I think five or seven Emmys
when he pulled his head out of his behind and decided he wanted to work in the film industry
he told his parents his plan assuming they would get him work they said great dad picked up the
phone and I think he called deluxe which was an old film color house back in the day
my friend was sweeping floors there for two years before they let him sit behind an edit bay
that was the job he got the first year he was there he was there two or three hours a day
and he wasn't paid that's just how it was back in our day if I offend people of today's generation
because we actually worked for free and earned our stripes by busting ass and bringing our own lunch
sorry you were offended but that's how we did it we still have people that want to intern that show
up we still have great people that come in and say look I'd like to give you a day on the set I
want to show you what I'm about because we're not looking for the help we have the people that are
on the team so it's about people coming to us and saying I want to show you what I can do for you
of course we're going to feed you we'll water you come on out for a few hours show us what
you got so when we make our next film we know to call you and there's a lot of filmmakers that are
willing to do that I used to call everybody I knew in that rolodex and I called them and we
didn't have text and email it was phone calls and it was you know hey Phil Hearn it's Shane Stanley,
Lee's son. Yeah that one. Listen I need to get on a set do you need somebody to be a PA, an AC, a
second you know what can I do to get on a set Phil would call back sometimes and say yeah if you want
to come work on Saturday we're doing a show with Richard Crenna come on out bring your own lunch
I’ll get you on the set giant getting paid and I'd show up you know I did that with Steve Elkins Phil
Hearn did that with Ken Shafer I did that with with Tom Coster I did that with with you know chad
shoe cat I think got me on a couple of shows it it's just what we did and I hope and I understand
times have changed and all that but my my heart and my spirit of telling you what I did last
time that ruffled some feathers was not sell your soul and work for free for 70 hours a week do your
meet your responsibilities with your paying job but we all don't work 70 hours a week for a paying
job so you find the time to get on a set even if it's three hours a day and show people what you
got and be around people that are doing what you love so they know that they can call and rely on
you that was the sole purpose of that why do you think um younger generations have reacted stronger
than maybe you know previous ones it's because a lot of interns have been taken advantage of
yeah I think so I mean when you work with interns you can't you can't replace interns
you can't replace employees with interns and I think you know ever since the big Black Swan
that changed the dynamics you know we work very closely with a lot of amazing schools you know the
LACC [Los Angeles Community College] we're working with College of the Desert this year out in Palm
Springs and Pierce College and you know the rules are simple is is you know give the kids
the opportunity let them shadow and and our our guys on our crew are so amazing with them because
they they've been fortunate in their upbringing and they understand what hard work is they don't
let the kids sit around they're like hey grab an end of that come on let me show you how to clean
a lens when we had interns literally doing second AC duties for for a film when we had a second AD
I'm sorry second AC and and to watch these kids learn how to pick up these 60 or 70 thousand
dollar lenses and clean them and prep them and put them on the cameras they're not learning that in
the classroom and I guarantee you they're not learning that during a pandemic so we're really
big about interns coming out and learning various jobs on the set you know we try to move them
to sound to camera to AD, UPM they come shadow me for a day they can learn everything what not to do
you know go in a hair and makeup learn how that is go learn wardrobe and how we tag everything
for the days and the scenes and how sometimes wardrobe is used for half of the day it's put
away we use it for an hour something else and then we go back to that and just the way the
schedule is how we shoot they don't learn these things in a classroom and you know
they're paying for an education that that they get in a class and so when they're able to come on a
set with filmmakers that are willing to open their doors and their hearts to say come learn you know
and that's that's what that's that's the spirit of what I what I try to to you know to encourage.
Question For The Viewers:
What are the pros and cons for working on a production for free?